


Down to the Bone

by Kingdom_of_Roses



Series: Earth - 199942 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Legal Proceedings, Maria Hill fights with paperwork, News Media, Period-Typical Anti-Semitism, Pro Sokovia Accords, Pro-Accords, Team Iron Man, cameos abound, no one tells Sam anything, past Sunset Bain / Tony Stark, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-03-05 20:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13395636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingdom_of_Roses/pseuds/Kingdom_of_Roses
Summary: Tony faces legal scrutiny over the creation of Ultron.





	1. Still I call it magic, when I'm next to you

**Author's Note:**

> All the thanks to [Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Haecceity) for the beta read and listening to me talk about this since 2015.

_Sokovian leaders are demanding answers regarding the attack on Novi Grad two days ago. Current estimates put the death toll at well over 100, with more than triple that in injuries and estimates are over $300 billion, USD, in property damage. Relief efforts are ongoing, with the UN and the EU leading the undertaking._

_Officials are still scrambling to identify the enemy that attacked the country’s capital. Early reports indicate a legion of robots, although at this time it is unclear if they were the leading edge of an invasion force, or even if they were sentient. The DPKO has set up a hotline for anyone with information._

_The Avengers defeated this force and are currently being debriefed by the United States’ Department of Defense. Thanks to their prompt response Novi Grad was largely evacuated and the devastation was confined to a few square kilometers._

_There are questions on whether this entity is responsible, or even connected to, the fights that broke out in Seoul, South Korea and Johannesburg, South Africa earlier this week. President Park of the Republic of Korea is formally requesting a UN investigation into why her government was not notified prior to engagement that the Avengers would be operating in the nation’s capital, one of the most populated cities in the world. Eyewitness statements indicate at least one, as many as 20 robots were present for a high-speed chase on and above one of Seoul’s major motorways._

_President Zuma has entered a similar request regarding the actions of Iron Man and the Hulk in one of Johannesburg’s business districts. No one has reported sightings of the robot in South Africa; however, one witness said he heard Iron Man say, quote “Go to sleep” end quote, while repeatedly punching the Hulk in the hea-_

**click**

Tony turned around to see Pepper staring at him in the dim lights of his floor’s living room.

“You want to explain why I didn’t get even a missed call from you this time?” She started while walking around to the front of the couch.

“Rhodey was already here and we’re broken up, which means giving you space, and last I checked, you hate hearing about Avenger operations,” Tony knew it was an underhanded way to get distance, but there was a reason he had been dodging her calls. He really didn’t want to have this conversation right after being grilled by top military brass. Dumbasses couldn’t even find their toes but felt qualified to question his research methods. Well, somebody needed to - _Oh God, Jarvis_ \- Tony just wished it was someone with a PhD or two.

“We’ve stopped dating, not being friends! Tony, last I heard, you were safe and celebrating clearing out a major Hydra base, then I’m getting an alert to stay away from the tower, and I can’t reach you or Jarvis and no one was sending the all clear.” He slumped when she mentioned his lost AI, which of course Pepper caught.

“Why are you using Friday? I thought she was a playmate for Jarvis to mentor, did something happen to him?”

Tony took a deep breath, staring off over her left shoulder, steeling himself against the urge to break down and cry, again. “An experiment went bad, tore through his main code, attacked us, attacked Helen, tried to transfer itself into one of her projects, I gathered what was left of Jarvis and used him to take back her project.” He paused, doing his best to be fair to his newest addition, “The final results are a new being that sorta remembers being Jarvis, but really isn’t him.”

Pepper sank down next to him on the sofa, “Jarvis is… gone?” At his nod her arms wrapped around his torso. He tried to suppress a flinch when she squeezed the fractured ribs (two years later and he still marvelled at what Extremis could do for broken bones) left by Cap’s shield. She pulled back and started lifting his shirt, “What was that? Were you hurt in the fight? Oh my God, Tony! Did you get checked out by medical?” She squinted closer at his neck, “Are those handprints?!”

“Pepper, Pep, honey, please just,” Tony sighed, “Yes, that’s a handprint, Thor was unhappy,” Pepper growled and flushed red. Tony rubbed his thumb over her wrist, “Yes, I’ve been to medical, I’ve even taken their meds and advice to rest, which I am doing between getting my ass hauled in for debriefings.” That pulled her up short. “I’ll tell you everything, but can we go back to hugging, I’m feeling a little delicate,” he (not)joked.

“Of course, anything you need. Jar- Friday, please play ‘27 Dresses’.”

“Marsden has nice cheekbones,” Tony mumbled into her neck.

“And his eyes are such a pretty blue,” Pepper agreed as she stroked a hand through his hair.

~*~*~

Rhodey joined them during ‘Enchanted’ (“Dude, Dempsey’s eyes are so tiny” “Shhh”) with more ice cream, this time enough for everyone, Tony passed out during ‘Stardust’ (“Shake! Spear!”), and Rhodey insisted on cooking them breakfast in the morning despite his arm being in a sling. Tony felt somewhat functional after his third cup of coffee, so he had Pepper and Rhodey follow him to the basement lab because he’d rather the other Avengers not walk in on this and the basement had the best soundproofing due to engine testing (or explosions). And wasn’t currently destroyed.

“So yeah,” Tony wrapped up, “Bruce is in the wind, Thor is visiting Jane, Clint is with his surprise family, the Avengers are pissed, Maximoff is holed up in Clint’s spare room, the Pentagon wants to jail me or have me recreate Ultron for them, can’t quite tell which yet, and no one else knows that I caused the biggest disaster since Japan’s tsunami.” He looked up when Pepper made a sound of disagreement.

“That killed tens of thousands of people, Tony, the early estimates for Ultron’s are a little more than two hundred people,” she covered his mouth, muffling his bitter ‘so far.’ “Not you, Ultron. Don’t roll your eyes at me. If I went out and shot someone, should the police arrest my parents?” Tony shook his head, “Good. Yes I know it gets fuzzy with you literally coding him, but he’s an anomaly and you need to look at why all your other AIs are peaceful and his first act was to kill his babysitter.” Tony could only furrow his eyebrows at her since the hand was still firmly in place. “So you can avoid that mistake in the future. But, Tony, if Loki’s staff had an AI already, why aren’t you considering the possibility that _it_ created Ultron?” She finally took her hand away.

Tony opened his mouth to argue, paused, and then drooped, “It was still my responsibility to have safeguards in place to prevent tampering.” Rhodey moved forward like he wanted to interject so Tony hit them with the damning evidence, “I didn’t even call an Inspector!” Pepper and Rhodey stilled. “I always have an Inspector go over my labs before starting a big project and it never crossed my mind. That’s on me, that makes everything that happened after I installed that blasted scepter in my main lab in the middle of New York City my responsibility. Still shows that everyone was right to say we shouldn’t have messed with things we didn’t understand and that there are some things we’re just not meant to know.”

Rhodey shook off his shock and surged towards Tony, “Bullshit! You’re an engineer, you’re always going to want to figure out what makes the universe tick, and _that’s not wrong_. Mapping the human genome is an awesome feat of science, yet we have assholes trying to weed out “undesirable” birth defects like autism or dwarfism. Doesn’t mean it was wrong to figure out what the Sonic Hedgehog gene does. Should’ve named it something else, but no one ever said geneticists were mature. Hell, people say vaccines are bad. Who you gonna to believe, people scared of science but reaping its benefits or the science community that has literal millennia of evidence that progress is made through trial and error and study?”

Tony turned away from Rhodey and saw Pepper’s jaw flex as she clenched it, “Thor is an alien so advanced our ancestors thought he was a god instead of the immature asshole teenager he is. Why didn’t he advise you about your safety measures? For that matter, why didn’t he take it with him after the Battle of New York if it was so ~beyond our ken~? 

“And ‘everyone’ can shove it. They expected you and Bruce to take care of anything scientific that you came across up until some arbitrary line they tell you not to pass after you’ve passed it. Don’t argue, I saw your time log. Post mission was almost always blocked out for what you found at those bases.” Tony just held his hands up, recognizing Pepper was on a warpath.

“I can hear the lawyers screaming already about that… oversight with the Inspector, but I know you had one in here two months ago,” Pepper crossed her arms, “I also know you brought one in when you first started working on the Ultron Protocol four months ago. Were there no signs to stop working?” 

He shrugged helplessly, “Nothing that caught my attention, or Bruce or Jarvis’. Certainly nothing happened until Ultron was crashing the party. I’d say it was bad luck, but you know how much the courts hate that.”

With his good hand Rhodey started rubbing Tony’s shoulder while looking up into his eyes, “You know perfectly well the best way to counter an enemy’s weapons is to study them. I hate bringing up Howard, but the only way to know you’re carrying the bigger stick is to measure theirs.” Tony snorted tiredly before waving off his concern, “Thor would make us reliant on his people for protection and give us a pat on the head and send us to bed when we ask questions they decide are beyond us. Or in your case, _strangle you_. For my sanity, we need to find a different place to house your ‘teammates’.

Rhodey’s mouth twisted in displeasure, “I requested the transfer last night, War Machine should be more available for the fights the Avengers get into, who knows how South Africa would have gone if I could have been backing you up instead of arguing with my superiors about where they were deploying me. As much as I want to live with you Tones, I need Thor to not live with you more. Can you come up with a reason to house him in Antarctica? I still can’t believe how Rogers dealt with that.” 

Leaning further into Rhodey’s warm hand, Tony nodded, “Yeah, I have a few ideas. Howard had a warehouse for special projects upstate that SI hasn’t used in years. Give me a month and it’ll be the new Avengers’ compound.” Pepper’s eyes narrowed at him and then shared a **look** with Rhodey. _Fucking hell, agreed too easily._

“Tony, did you, perhaps, forget to mention something?”

He debated evasion, but that would make her look at the security footage, which would be worse. “One or two… tiny details,” he held his hand up with his index finger and thumb pinched together. Pepper just cocked an eyebrow. “Rogers trusted Maximoff’s word over Bruce, Jarvis, and me about Vision, and he’s been talking about putting her on the team, even though she gave everyone traumatizing visions. Natasha is still feeling some sort of after effects.”

“Captain America listened to Wanda ‘I signed up for Nazi experiments’ Maximoff over you.” Pepper’s voice went deadly flat while Rhodey’s face shut down, “Wanda ‘I sided with a homicidal robot until it targeted my country’ Maximoff has more clout with Captain goddamn America than his teammates of three years.” Her eyes turned speculative, “ _How_ did your ribs get cracked, Tony? I noticed that got left out.” Rhodey shot him a sharp look, clearly already guessing it wasn’t Ultron, and dove towards Tony’s shirt.

“Tony!” Years of practice meant Rhodey had his shirt up despite Tony’s best efforts. “I’ve seen Hydra booking photos, that’s Rogers’ shield!”

Tony yanked his shirt back down and was very, **very** thankful he had stabilized Extremis when he saw Pepper’s glower, “Cap was trying to stop me from creating Vision. Thought he would be worse than Ultron.”

“You need to get him out of this tower because if I see him I’m going to rip his ears off,” Pepper stated so matter of factly that Tony had could almost see Steve’s ears in her hands. Her gaze turned contemplative, a sure sign that someone was going to cry, “You still have those armour plans for Rescue?”

“Pep, no, you are not challenging Captain America for my dubious honor.” Tony paused, “But I will make you a suitcase armour for your protection. When word gets out they’ll be coming after me and mine, and I want you safe.” Rhodey coughed, “Don’t worry Honey Bunny, I’ve got upgrades for you.”

“I want sonic weapons, no bullets, and you have a deal. You start on that and the compound, I’m going to rouse our legal department and make them work for their paychecks. There’s going to be so many civil suits.” She left the lab after kissing him on the cheek. 

Tony watched her go, “She’s going to be even more terrifying, isn’t she?”

“Yep,” Rhodey agreed.

* * *

**10 December 2017**  
_[Location Redacted], Arizona_

“More tea Uncle Nick?” Lila Barton asked, holding out the plastic teapot filled with white grape juice.

Nick Fury, minus his trademark leather duster, plus a pink feathered tiara, held out his (thankfully) adult-sized teacup, “Please.”

After filling his cup and topping off hers, Lila looked at him and said, “I know why you’re here.”

“Really? Why am I here little Barton?” Fury sipped at his cup.

“Mom’s worried about me. She thinks I might be lucky, but I’m not.”

Well, that made things simpler and infinitely more difficult. “From what I’ve heard, you’ve been pretty lucky over the last year: your dog found his way home, that teacher you were having arguments with moved to a new school and your new teacher, Mrs. Moore lets you color in class as long as your grades stay up, and the doll you wanted started coming out in your favorite color. How do you explain it if it not luck?”

Lila focused on giving her dolls tea, “I wished for those things to happen.” Sneaking a look at Fury’s reaction she pulled one of her dolls into her lap and brought out a brush. “Mom has a rule about ice cream is a weekend dessert or as a reward for Cooper doing well in soccer or when we do well on tests. Last week I wanted ice cream and Cooper scored the winning goal.”

~*~*~

“Your daughter is amazing, like always,” Fury pitched his voice so it would travel upstairs to the spy who was definitely lurking. “Have you heard the tale of the farm boy who knew he was meant for something more so he ran away to apprentice himself to the court wizard?” Fury slid a collection of fairy tales towards her.

“What, like you know a wizard?”

“I know two.”


	2. Do you ponder the manner of things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Haecceity) is the best at making sure I stay in the same tense.

**Two weeks before The Avengers move out**  
May 19, 2015; CNN:

The scene outside Stark Tower today showed UN officials leaving with what one source confirmed was Tony Stark’s documents and servers. Stark is cooperating with UN officials after he came forward last week with information about the attack on Sokovia. Details are few, but it seems the attack was carried out by a days old artificial intelligence known as Ultron, not of extraterrestrial origin. While the extent of Stark’s involvement is not known, he is the leading expert in the field, and this seizure of his property indicates he may have built the Ultron AI. Sokovia’s Prime Minister Muratović has signalled his government will file suits against Stark, Stark Industries, the Avengers Initiative, and the United States Government for financial compensation as well as petition the UN and EU for more help with the rebuilding efforts.

* * *

**One month after The Avengers move out**  
_Stark Industries Headquarters, New York City, New York_  
June 10, 2015 1:45pm EDT

“We are not involving her!” Tony yelled, whipping around to face Anderson, his lead counsel.

“All due respect, Mr. Stark, but if we're calling on your other teammates, it would look odd if she was kept off the stand. The prosecution will undoubtedly subpoena her for a deposition.”

Tony squared up to Anderson's conference table, “You have to understand, it is not safe for anyone to show the world what Maximoff can do.”

“If it's all the same to you, as your counsel I'd like to make that decision _after_ meeting her. You're paying me to be objective and keep you out of jail.”

“We have their servers and we’re still looking for any officers who opted out of gargling cyanide,” Tony waved his hand dismissively, “there’s no need to put her on the stand. And we’re not using my ‘vision’ for anything. It’s my word against hers about what I saw.”

“...Let’s table that for now. Next point is who we bring in to review your coding process and security. I’ve compiled dossiers on ten researchers and experts, please pick at least three,” Anderson places a stack of files in front of Tony.

He sat and quickly scanned the names, “He’s out, his grant’s funded by a Baintronics shell corporation, we'd be looking at a conflict of interest. She hasn’t spoken to me since I spilled Red Bull on her project 10 years ago… might actually be a point in her favor. This man is an idiot and has trouble staying away from his female grad students, do not use him. He was in M.I.T.’s comp sci program at the same time as me, don’t think we shared classes. I met her at a conference at Berkeley, nice person, little mono-focused. He tried to get a grant funded by one of my foundations, was rejected because his idea would lead to robot Godzilla. Met him at a conference in Tokyo, can’t hold his rice wine, but good people. London conference, convinced me to eat eel pie while talking about his plans for creating a new learning algorithm. This dude knows all the best wifi spots in France, think I spent a week collaborating on one of his projects. She is a no, always looked at me with the stalker eyes at any conference we were both at,” Tony placed the last one down in the reject pile.

Anderson took back the files, now in two stacks, “Thank you Mr. Stark. I’ll contact these people and arrange for confidentiality agreements to be sent out. No need to add IP rights to your list of worries.”

“Thanks Claudia, say hi to Lyndsay for me?” Tony shook her hand before he left.

~*~*~

June 16, 2015; USA Today:

Sunset Bain and Tony Stark were seen leaving the Houston tech conference together Monday evening deep in conversation. The business world is abuzz with rumors of a Stark-Baintronics merger after seeing the two tech moguls have an intimate dinner at Etolie Cuisine Et Bar. Fellow dinners reported heated gazes and intense conversation. Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts was unavailable for comment.

~*~*~

June 19, 2015; ABC:

The Maria Stark Foundation has continued to make sizable donations to Sokovian humanitarian relief efforts. Funds earmarked for infrastructure rebuilding are estimated to be in the high millions at this point. The Foundation is also sponsoring skilled professionals willing to go to Sokovia to help get the nation back on its feet. 

With the capital city of Novi Grad destroyed, the national government ground down to a halt this past May, severely impacting Sokovia’s ability to respond to this disaster. With the help of the UN and the EU, government officials were able to convert the nearby city of Prijedor into Sokovia’s new capital.

~*~*~

_Stark Stark Industries Headquarters, New York City, New York_  
June 20, 2015 10:00am EDT

“Mr. Stark, your 10 o’clock is here,” Mrs. Arbogast voice came through Tony’s office speaker.

“I have a 10 o’clock?” Tony looked up from his schematic.

“She's very insistent and Friday made the appointment.” 

His display switched to showing his calendar with a blinking box stating he had a meeting with Maria Hill. “Huh. Why the surprise Fri?”

Friday blinked into sight looking like a doll-sized Clara Bow standing on his desk, “Assistant Director Hill requested confidentially.”

“Whoa, hey now, she is a full Director. Who would be masochistic enough to try and take that from her?”

Friday smirked right when Tony’s Fuck-yeah-I'm-more-important-than-you door opened and Hill marched in.

“Save me.”

“Excuse me?”

“Save me,” Hill repeated in the same monotone as she settled into the chair across from him, sedately crossing her ankles and leaning back.

“What.”

“When a lady is in distress, the knight is obligated to help. I'm in distress. Help.”

“We'll come back to that lady bit in a moment.” Tony leaned forward and laced his fingers together on the desk. “What am I helping you with and does it have to do with your Assistant designation? Did Steve bring someone in without telling me?”

Hill shook her head, “He agreed with the memo about fair hiring, but you're two-thirds right.” She gestured to his tablet, “May I?”

When he nodded she flipped it towards her, “Friday, please bring up the file I sent you.”

~*~*~

June 25, 2015; BBC:

Tony Stark was called to meet with the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC by Prosecutor Bensouda. It is believed this is in connection with the ongoing investigation over the destruction of Novi Grad. 

Talk of a trial has already started. Due to the number of heads of state already indicating they wish to attend in person, officials suggested the trial, if it were to happen, would be closed to the public but not the press, for security purposes.

* * *

**Two months after The Avengers move out**  
July 12, 2015; MWN:

...And if we look here:

[image of SHIELD top management hierarchy displayed with 18 out 50 names in red, 8 of the red ones are circled]

We can see that these confirmed Nazi agents had a hand in approving the Avengers Initiative. It may have been the pet project of Director Fury and Agent Phillip Coulson, it may have been vetoed by the WSC, the same council that launched a nuclear missile at New York, but it had to pass these five men [five of circled names become bolded in image] specifically to get funding and approval after the Battle of New York, and these three men [three of the circled names become bolded in image] were designated to analyze missions for the Avengers. 

Alexander Pierce, who was revealed to be a Hydra Head last year, personally tapped Nicholas Fury for the director position of SHIELD and signed off on the acquisition fee to purchase Stark repulsor engines for Project Insight.

Looking at this section of the organization:

[image of subgroup labeled ‘Field Operations’ displaying field operatives and immediate support personnel hierarchy with ‘Captain America,’ ‘Black Widow,’ and ‘Hawkeye’ bolded, everyone surrounding ‘Captain America’ in red, Hawkeye’s support team 50% red, and Black Widow’s handler’s superior in red]

It shows three members of the Avengers Initiative, including their field leader, working closely with Nazi agents for years and never raising a red flag. While there is documentation indicating Nick Fury was using the Black Widow and Hawkeye in a mole hunt, that does not explain Captain America, a decorated World War II vet, being unable to recognize Nazi influence in his STRIKE team.

This leads me to only one conclusion: the Avengers are Nazi agents and their actions in Sokovia were calculated, not accidental.

They claim they were in Sokovia initially to take out a Hydra cell, but less than a week later the capital was destroyed, severely destabilizing a region that has a history of drawing in violent foreign influence...

~*~*~

_New Avengers Facility, New York_  
July 12, 2015 1:39pm EDT

Everyone in the Avengers’ residential wing jumped at the loud BANG of the TV falling off the wall.

Natasha stuck her head into the media room and looked at Steve, “Everything alright there Steve? Yankees start winning by too much?”

“They just called us Nazi agents!” Steve exclaimed, pointing at the broken flat screen.

“Sooo, you broke the TV?” Natasha fully entered the room, raising an eyebrow while crossing her arms. “Which program was it?”

“That was an accident, and a news program from Morocco,” Steve rubbed a hand through his hair. “Sorry.”

“Why were you watching Moroccan news? We have a department dedicated to vetting missions for us, no need to search for new ones on the television,” she stepped forward to examine the remote sized hole in the screen and the dent in the wall. “You’ve met them, remember? I tried to set you up with Kevin, but you said, ‘Stop discussing my private life in front of the Maggia, Nat!’ while punching Unicorn.” 

Steve rolled his eyes, “I had Tony set up an alert for Avenger mentions after I moved into the Tower.” He walked to the closet and grabbed the broom and dustpan to sweep up the glass and plastic. “And seriously Nat, stop trying to live vicariously through my love life.”

“What love life? All you do is work and sleep, or work _while_ sleeping. And you’ve had to have seen worse on Fox,” Natasha pointed out, moving the trash can closer, “Or the History Channel. Half their content is calling you a time traveling alien. The other half is Hitler having an affair with the Red Skull.”

“He blocked Fox after the fifth time I called in to correct them and they tried to sue me for defamation, and the History Channel never called me or my team Nazis.” Steve dumped the dustpan’s load in the trash, conveniently ignoring his lack of life outside of work.

“That’s pretty mild for northern Africa. Between western colonialism and the Vichy government, they have little patience for western fascism.” Natasha took one side of the screen and helped Steve move it to a corner of the room. She would let the compound administrator know later, no need to worry Tony while he was dealing with the ICC. Maybe she should suggest a Wii strap for the next remote.

“They outright said we targeted Sokovia to destabilize the area. It’s just so frustrating! We were starting to earn back the public’s trust after SHIELD and then Tony and Bruce built that abomination. And now with Bruce hiding and Tony distancing himself from the team and capitulating to this farce of a trial, how are we supposed to fix it?”

Natasha sighed, “Tony ‘capitulating’ is probably one of the best things he can do for us.” Steve made a grumbling noise. “Well, it certainly doesn’t help us if our main source of funds has a sharp drop in stock prices because people think he’s getting away with literal murder. Fuel for the quinjet isn’t cheap, Steve, not exactly something we can crowdfund.”

“But he voluntarily gave the UN his servers when that video of him telling a congressional hearing to keep their hands off his tech is infamous.”

“He also had his lawyers vet who would have access and a few years ago he helped build the room the servers are being stored in. And before we knew that Stern was Hydra, all that looked like was a power trip; Tony knows how to handle those.”

She looked over and took in Steve’s rigid shoulders, “What, exactly, did you expect him to do after participating in the creation of a homicidal robot?”

Steve placed his hands on his hips and contemplated the toes of his boots. Looking up, he met Natasha’s gaze, “I thought we would handle this together, like we agreed in the lab, like we’ve done since the fall of SHIELD. That he wouldn’t run away from his responsibilities to his teammates to publicly fulfil some arbitrary guilt quota that doesn’t actually fix what he broke but does put on a good show for the world.”

Natasha remembered the glimpse of Tony’s face when he turned away from Steve saying they would lose together. There was no way the engineer agreed with anything Steve had been saying after Ultron attacked them at the party. Tony still wasn’t talking about what Wanda showed him, but if she had to guess, Steve had stomped on a weak point instead of being supportive, cementing Tony’s need to save the team at any cost to himself. (She also found it interesting that Steve thought a ~~death~~ failure pact would be reassuring. To any of them.)

“Steve, Tony isn’t running away. If he forced them to find out about his participation instead of stepping forward, the reaction would be much worse,” Natasha said, more forcefully than she intended.

“And going along with a world court that can’t do anything is better?”

Natasha paused. “This isn’t the same one that was around when you grew up, you know that, right? That dissolved with the League of Nations. Besides, you must have read about the Nuremberg Trials.”

A grimace crossed his face, “The UN isn’t any better at stopping war than the LN, just better at looking productive.”

“That’s just… Steve, no, who told you that? They actually deal with messes, not just conflicts, but economics and resources, instead of sweeping them under a rug of appeasement.” Steve just stared back at her mulishly. “I’m gonna talk to Francie about the TV.” _And get you better history books. Blyad’._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted 28Jan2018


	3. Renegade who had it made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Haecceity) is the best, go show some love.

**Three months after The Avengers move out**  
_Stark Industries Headquarters, New York City, New York_  
August 3, 2015 9:50am EDT

Tony was at his desk working on paperwork for Julia when Jennifer entered his office.

“Maximoff has been put on the list for discovery.” She placed a packet of papers in front of him.

Tony raised an eyebrow, “As I told Anderson, she shouldn't go on the stand.”

Jen snorted, “So you’re going to keep the one person who a) is still alive, b) held a conversation with Ultron, and c) says she can tell what he wanted off the stand? Yeah, you pay us to help you, not sabotage you.” She briefly glanced to the side before meeting his eyes again, “It doesn’t just help you, you know. It helps Bruce. Cuz has enough guilt issues over what he does as Big ‘n’ Green, he doesn’t need this added.”

“I know,” Tony sighed, “I get it. It’s just… she does _magic_ , Jen. Honest to Tesla magic. There’s not enough Guards to handle her on the stand. Everyone in Sokovia is going to wish her ill when they hear she helped Ultron destroy their city, we won't be able to prevent collateral damage from splashing around. 

“Plus, Steve’s going mama bear over her which is,” He paused to find the best way to describe the mess of emotions the situation brought up, “let’s go with ‘frustrating’ and leave it at that.”

Jen hummed in agreement, “It will be tricky getting past Rogers to talk to Maximoff, but I’ve talked with Romanoff and Vision and have a plan ready to go.”

“I would pay to see that. Knowing Nat, it’d involve a date for Rogers and six cover identities.” Tony fiddled with his pen, “What, um, what does Anderson plan to ask Wanda?” 

“She wants Maximoff’s point of view on what Hydra did to her and her brother; what they did before and after being recruited. An account of what she did to you and your teammates in Sokovia and South Africa. Her impressions of Ultron: his state of mind, his goals, his reasoning, and so on.” Jen ticked off with a roll of her hand.

Tony thought of the sad young woman, so convinced she had been in the right, and how Bruce looked when he realized what they had unleashed on the world. “Vision wants to sit in and offer support?” Jen nodded, “As long as you know I am strongly against her testimony being made public, Claudia and Bensouda can question her. Not like I can actually stop them.”

He scanned through the packet and signed it, handing it back to Jennifer, who gave him a small smile, “Seriously though, get Nat to film getting Steve out of the compound. At the very least I want proof that he can leave for something other than emergencies or Avenger missions.”

Jen just laughed on her way out the door.

~*~*~

[OFFICE SYMBOL REDACTED]

06 Aug 2015  
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD  
SUBJECT: Border Crossing Procedures

1\. It is the duty of every team leader to contact the support office for clearance before entering a foreign country.

2\. Have documentation ready for processing including at minimum:

a. Identify personnel entering the country.  
  
b. Purpose of visit.  
  
c. Equipment list.

3\. Examples of AII Form 5290 and AII Form 1374 are enclosed.

4\. Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action.

AUTHORITY LINE:

Maria C Hill

For  
  
ANTHONY E. STARK  
Director  
Avengers Initiative, Inc

2 Encls

~*~*~

August 17, 2015; Forbes:

Michael Chang made waves in the business world this past week when he announced his newest venture: space colonization. In an exclusive interview with our reporter Joel Washburn, Dr. Chang talked about his plan to find the best and the brightest of humanity and send them to the stars. 

He credits the Battle of New York with the genesis of his idea. Since then he has built a massive campus on land his company, Jīnshǔ Huán, has owned since his great-grandfather bought it in 1879 from the British Empire during their land scrabble in Zimbabwe.

The campus’ labs have all the latest scientific equipment one can imagine, and a few more that Dr. Chang has personally designed.

His company has already shown gains from this tremendous undertaking. From advances in medicine to patents on space age tech, Accelerated Ascent, PVT, is setting itself up to be a direct competitor with both Stark Industries and Pym Tech.

When asked if his intent was to dethrone Tony Stark as the leader of everything tech, Dr. Chang smiled, leaned in, and told this reporter, “How do you know you're the best if no one steps up to challenge you?”

~*~*~

_Illuminating the Beyond message board_  
2015-08-23 20:31:44

robotrapt0r: i’m telling u guys go look at 2:38 on this video  
robotrapt0r: u can see the greedy bastard’s eyes flash!  
xxmlpRarity56xx: tht light from cameras shit 4 brains.  
s0L01st: his eyes never use to do that  
s0L01st: he got replaced by a reptilian when he died 2 years ago  
robotrapt0r: obviously he’s been working on ultron to make it easier to conquer us  
robotrapt0r: why else hit a backwater country like sokovia? no one wants to be there  
xxmlpRarity56xx: ultron wanted to kill everyone. You had to have seen that vid.  
robotrapt0r: they want us to fear them w/o destroying any resources they might need  
robotrapt0r: look at the math [puppet42](http://nerdist.com/the-physics-behind-age-of-ultrons-earth-shaking-ending/) did based on recordings of ultron  
s0L01st: why try to splatter us with bad math when he could jump on yellowstone and cause a supereruption?  
xcoldplayer420x: why didn’t the robot use nucs? us has like 5000 laying around  
robotrapt0r: omg i didnt sleep for a week after that special1!!  
username6946: he’s not replaced by a reptilian, those aren’t real.  
username6946: stark’s been a LMD since 2010  


~*~*~

_New Avengers Facility, New York_  
30 August 2015 1500 EDT

Sam hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. He’d been halfway down the hall to get a high protein snack from Stark’s state of the art kitchen before he registered that Nat’s voice was angry. He was picturing a peanut butter sandwich with orange juice, every cell aching after the workout he’d just done so it took him a long moment to notice that the other voice was Wanda’s. Sam abandoned thoughts of organic fruit juice to try to fit this into the image of their relationship he’d built up over the last month as the two women maintained an icy relationship despite coming together so spectacularly in the face of Ultron, the ugly bastard. 

The floor was cold through his socks as he walked closer, watching the back of Natasha’s head to see if she heard him. Wanda was too focused on Natasha to see Sam’s approach. When he was close enough to make out words, he realized Natasha was very emphatically telling Wanda off in what sounded like an impersonation of JFK.

“You do not get to come to me and say that!” Natasha bit off each word one by one at the young woman. Sam’s instincts were yelling at him to intervene and prevent Nat from lashing out at Wanda with one of the many knives the woman kept on herself.

“I know, I just, I just thought you deserved an apology fo-”

“No!”

Natasha stormed out of the kitchen in the direction of the gyms, leaving behind Wanda curling in on herself over the kitchen counter. Sam gave her a moment to gather herself and then entered the kitchen like he hadn’t heard anything.

“Hey Wanda, I’m just getting some OJ, you want any?” He waited for the sniffle before turning away from the fridge. “You okay? Did something happen?”

She swiped at her check before giving Sam a shaky smile, “I’m fine Sam. I just should have realized now wasn’t the right time.”

Sam had seen how Nat would snip and pick and build walls between herself and Wanda, prevent anything but cutting professionalism. There was no way Wanda’s peace offering would reach the prickly spy.

“I was thinking of going to the movies to see Inside Out, want to come with?”

Wanda nodded quickly, looking so pleased to be asked that Sam felt guilty for not doing it sooner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted 18Feb2018


	4. Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, [Elf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haecceity) is the best beta reader.

**Four months after The Avengers move out**  
_Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands_  
September 1, 2015 9:38am CEST

President Fernández leaned back in her chair, doing a fair impression of a fond grandmother waiting for the story behind the broken china plates, “The protection measures are in place; now, what was so important that the defense called an emergency sequestration in my chambers?”

Anderson pulled out a small Stark tablet. Handing it over to Fernández, she kept a careful watch on the judge’s face, “During the course of our questioning of witnesses, we ran into dragons.” She paused at the widening of Fernández’s eyes as the file opened on a still of Wanda Maximoff demonstrating her kinetic shielding abilities. Anderson knew what it looked like, knew it raised nightmarish possibilities. She also knew the prosecution was just as rattled.

“ _This is magic,_ ” Fernández breathed out on a sharp exhale.

“That was my team's conclusion, and after talking to Prosecutor Bensouda, that was hers too.” Anderson turned to look at Bensouda, letting her share her opinion. 

“She listed off what she can do with the Vision confirming or expanding on her explanations,” Bensouda looked down at her notes before continuing, “Over half of it does not conform to our current understanding of Gifts. She came into it late, so she did not have a chance to grow into her power. She consciously manipulates probability. She can invade minds and show images if focused and close enough.”

Anderson shuddered while she remembered the Avengers’ depositions. “The Vision assures us it is a close quarters skill.”

Fernández squeezed her eyes closed while taking a slow breath through her nose. Opening her eyes back up she gazed steadily at Bensouda, “Are charges being pursued against her?”

“We are open to alternative options,” Bensouda said evenly with a little glance to Anderson.

“Circumstances uncovered during discovery indicate she will avoid that talent in the future and may be persuaded to avoid others,” Anderson said through gritted teeth, reluctance and doubt shading her words.

~*~*~

_Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands_  
September 7, 2015 1030 CEST

“... and the defense will show that my client, Dr. Anthony Stark, did not have any intention or reason to create a sentient life form intent on the destruction of humanity.

“Given his 24 years of experience in the weapons industry, Dr. Stark was the Avengers Initiative’s primary expert for studying, decommissioning, and countering Hydra’s weapons. Since the slough of indictments brought against SHIELD personnel, Dr. Stark and Dr. Robert Bruce Banner are the leading experts on the scientific advancements made by Hydra. If anyone was prepared to understand the complexities of Baron von Strucker’s research it was Doctors Stark and Banner. And if not them, then they had the contacts to call in another expert.

“Dr. Stark’s labs are some of the best in the world. If there’s a protection that can be placed on a research center, he has it. Loki’s Scepter couldn’t have been safer if it was kept in Fort Knox while waiting for Prince Thor to transport it to Asgard. That Scepter was in the hands of Hydra, an organization that has declared itself the arbiter of Earth’s destiny. It would be irresponsible and criminally negligent for the leading expert on artificial intelligence to not investigate what Baron von Strucker’s Hydra cell was developing using an alien artifact.”

~*~*~

September 8, 2015; BBC:

In two weeks the International Criminal Court will hear testimony from leading AI researchers. Doctors Michael I. Jordan, Yann LeCun, Katia Sycara, Leslie Valiant, and Eric Xing have all had access to copies of Dr. Stark and Dr. Banner’s research on the scepter of the alien invader known as Loki, and their development of the Ultron AI.

~*~*~

_Court Transcript: Col. James Rupert Rhodes, US Air Force_  
September 14, 2015 0945 CEST

RHODES: Hydra had access to Loki’s scepter for we didn’t know how long, of course studying it was the right choice. We needed to be ready for whatever abomination Hydra made using their research and the only way to do that is to have a basic understanding of the tech involved. 

BENSOUDA: Why study instead of handing it immediately over to the Asgardian Prince Thor? Wouldn’t transferring custody of the alien artifact to the alien make the most sense? Isn’t that what SHIELD did with the Tesseract?

RHODES: I can’t say what SHIELD did or did not do. I do know Tony was initially called in to track the cube. I’ve seen the reports on New Mexico, we’ve all seen what happened in New York. Who’s to say it wouldn’t end up here again? There needs to be a way to neutralize it without having to wait for Asgard’s attention.

BENSOUDA: But Colonel, by all reports from SHIELD, Asgard has better security measures, some that specifically take into account what we call ‘magic.’

RHODES: They also have ogres. And ice giants. Any tale Thor brings up of Asgard involves one of those two. I’d rather not bet the safety of Earth on how impenetrable Asgard’s vaults are.

~*~*~

_A very private website for discerning buyers_  
2015-09-16 05:42:33

-40M up front

-TO MUCH

-25M NOW AND PROTOTYPE GUN

-25M, one of your gravity guns, and the new masking algorithm your boss made

-YOUR TERMS ARE AGREEABLE

-Do you have to use all caps?

-IT’S JUST EASIER TO READ THIS WAY

* * *

_Deposition Transcript: Douglas Luke Smith, CIA Analyst_  
Datestamp: August 21, 2015 1321 EDT

ANDERSON: Can you describe what you found on the servers taken from the Sokovian Hydra base?

SMITH: After decoding it, my team and I found experiment logs, security, and recruitment files. 

ANDERSON: What type of experiments?

SMITH: Human. The early logs mention a study they did on the scepter, but it was in a different cell. This one was dedicated to bringing out “fantastical powers in the pursuit of Hydra ideals.”

ANDERSON: Please describe for the record what these files document of the experiments.

SMITH: Baron von Strucker’s personal journal detailed how they would go out into the surrounding countries and look for ‘volunteers,’ specifically young people from areas where there was high anti-Western sentiment. After moving them to the base, Hydra started an indoctrination program designed to make participants invested in Hydra’s goals and increase their distrust of Western powers, America and France specifically.

ANDERSON: How many people went through this process?

SMITH: 144 were recruited for this cell, 78 passed the initial screening, 50 survived the first round of exposure, with participants dying every round until only the Maximoffs were left, 15 rounds later.

ANDERSON: When did Hydra declare success with the Maximoff twins? 

SMITH: A couple months after the fall of SHIELD, a note appears in mid-August to transfer them. Their files change from only test results to maintaining the twins loyalty and finding their power limit.

ANDERSON: How was their loyalty gained?

SMITH: The twins were ideal candidates: young and angry and orphaned by a series of events that could be traced back to the United States. Hydra dug into the circumstances behind their city being bombed and found that it was a case of friendly fire. The bomb was supplied to the Sokovian government by the United States and had been made by Stark Industries. There’s an incident report detailing how the government fired on its own city because the grid was turned around on the commanding officer’s desk. As soon as the error was noticed, the tech disarmed the bomb. That it landed on an apartment building was bad luck.

As far as I can tell, the Maximoff twins came to the attention of Hydra through running errands for the Sokovian Primacy Front. 

Once the twins were tapped for experimentation, Dr. List started them on a drug treatment designed to increase their compliance and suggestibility.

Weekly the twins were called in to ‘remember’ how their parents died. Every time the Hydra agent would steer them towards remembering a specific detail: how long they waited to be dug out of their home. All the while reinforcing the emotional impact of the event and assuring them that Hydra would help them take revenge on Stark as the man who profited from the conflict rather than their government which made a simple mistake. This built on the emotional foundation and biases they already possessed. By controlling and deepening the trauma of the memory, Hydra ensured the Maximoffs would be relentless in seeking revenge on Stark as the embodiment of everything ‘Western’. 

And there was a note to threaten the other twin for when one of them started to question mission goals.

All candidates that made it as far as round five received similar indoctrination. For example, a husband and wife that were showing signs of controlled energy beams and telekinesis were being conditioned to blame Hawkeye for the deaths of their children.

ANDERSON: Did the logs mention how they contained the scepter between uses?

SMITH: An energy field that was calibrated to emit the opposite output of the scepter, effectively nullifying it, and then storing it in a sealed vault with the rest of their high-value tech.

ANDERSON: You were given a chance to compare Hydra’s containment measures to Dr. Stark’s. In your professional opinion, was Dr. Stark’s equal to Hydra’s?

SMITH: Without a doubt. Dr. Stark had better quality tech and enacted more safety precautions than Hydra did. 

Looking at Dr. Stark’s security records show that the scepter didn’t blow apart his containment with an excess of power; instead, it picked at any crack it could find and crumbled it apart. We theorize that this is why it took almost three full days to disrupt Dr. Stark’s system.

~*~*~

_Judge Barrow’s Chambers, James T. Foley United States Courthouse, New York, NY_  
September 20, 2015 9:46am EDT

Shoving his glasses up onto his forehead, Judge Barrow pinched his nose and willed away his building headache. For two hours the lawyers in front of him had been arguing and snapping and almost assaulting each other over the plea deal for Wanda Maximoff, political ~~fugitive~~ refugee from Sokovia. Yesterday the lawyers had been allowed to review the deposition tapes of Ms. Maximoff in a secured and protected room. Neither had reacted well to what they had learned or what they were being asked to do. 

Wishing for the fifth time that morning that he had brought his ref whistle Barrow motioned for a cease-fire and called over his aide, “John, please go get an order of coffee and muffins, I need to rule out them being hangry or in withdrawals.”

District Attorney Bentley and Defender Joshi turned equal glares on him, the second thing they had agreed on all morning. “Your Honor, I really must protest-!” Bentley started, her expensive manicure flashing in the morning light as she stabbed her finger down at the paperwork in front of her.

“That this is a miscarriage of justice, yes, it’s been noted from the other three times you’ve protested. And for the fourth time, the other options lead to a more grievous ending.”

“You can’t know that!”

Gesturing sharply, Barrow cut her off again, “The spirit of the law is not to put innocents in the path of mob justice! She is willing to plead no contest to the charges of aggravated assault, battery, incitement, and conspiracy. None of the Avengers, barring possibly Banner, are pressing charges against her for her actions in Sokovia and South Africa, and he can't be found to ask his opinion.”

Leaning forward in his chair and bracing his elbows on the conference table, Barrow continued, “Dr. Stark has expressed an interest in keeping this discreet, Captain Rogers has stated he wants her on his team. Their opinions don’t matter.” He aimed a look at Joshi, who rolled his shoulders back and tilted his chin up a little, acknowledging the reprimand. “The ICC, on the other hand, while having no right to interfere in U.S. judicial proceedings, has expressed a desire for us to not kick off the next decade of witch burnings. They did not have to hand this to us, Ms. Maximoff’s actions fall almost entirely under their purview. So we are going to do right by Ms. Maximoff and her victims, as much as we are able to without endangering world security.”

John came back loaded down with not only coffee and muffins, but also sandwiches from Barrow’s favorite deli. This was one of the perks of keeping John as his aide: he always knew when to call in food orders early. “Now take a break, eat your food, drink your coffee, and let’s be civil for ten blessed minutes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted 25Mar2018
> 
> President Fernández & Prosecutor Bensouda are real women with amazing careers, the characters appearing here are just pale imitations. 
> 
> Michael I. Jordan, Yann LeCun, Katia Sycara, Leslie Valiant, and Eric Xing are also real computer scientists.


	5. Like a bird in the snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit this would not have gotten out today without [Elf's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haecceity) help.
> 
> These are not quotes from Fox & Friends, these are not the real Fox & Friends, I do not own these characters.

**Five months after The Avengers move out**  
_Judge Barrow’s Chambers, James T. Foley United States Courthouse, New York, NY_  
September 26, 2015

“She clearly needs good role models, which she’ll get by living in the Avengers’ Compound. Look at this bit,” Joshi pointed to a line halfway down the transcript of Maximoff’s deposition, “Hydra kept her in isolation with just her twin and her handler, placing her in more isolation in a high-security prison won't do anything but walk face first into cruel and unusual punishment territory. Do we really want to give her years to sit and contemplate how the system has wronged her?”

Bentley drummed her fingers on the table, “I’m not denying that, but confining her to the Avengers Compound is like sentencing her to life imprisonment in a five-star resort.”

“Where she won’t be allowed to leave without an escort, have a minimum of five hours of classes, and whatever training regiment her team leader requires. She’ll be surrounded by Avengers who have a vested interest in keeping her on the side of the angels.” Joshi pointed out.

~*~*~

September 28, 2015; The Daily Show:

Well folks, we had a show planned. [Image of Captain Steve Rogers on the witness stand of ICC appears to the left of Jon Stewart] It was a good show too. [Image changes to a child pointing and laughing at Rogers] But then De3zNutz69420 decided he didn't like Captain America’s testimony and hacked the UN. Let me just say, I never want to get on the bad side of those brass nuts. 

So instead of delving into this [Bad Boss title card in sepia tones appears with Steve Rogers badly photoshopped in] BEEP-head being terrible at checking in on his people, we get to live in a world where we know The Avengers aren't using safewords.

~*~*~

October 3, 2015; BBC:

It is becoming clear, from both the expert witnesses and Dr. Stark’s testimony, that the creation of the Ultron AI has left them grasping at straws to explain how Dr. Stark and Dr. Banner’s study of Loki’s scepter made the leap to a robust sentient AI that had the ability to break out of its virtual machine testbed in the few hours it was not supervised in person. Dr. Valiant noted in court that Dr. Stark’s security measures were the best he’d ever seen, and he mourned the loss of knowledge that happened with the destruction of Dr. Stark’s helper AI.

~*~*~

_Stark Industries Headquarters, New York City, New York_  
October 5, 2015 3:45pm EDT

“Hi, Dr. Foster, it’s Pepper Potts.” Pepper waited while Dr. Foster flustered her way through a greeting and a few compliments.

“Yes, I was very happy to receive that award, thank you for noticing. I’m actually calling because I wanted to ask a favor. I’m sure you noticed the robot attack six months ago,” Pepper had to hold the phone away from her ear while Dr. Foster proceeded to curse Tony’s name and threatened to call Thor down to deal with Tony the next time he tried to create Armageddon. There was a scuffle in the background and a new voice was speaking over the phone.

“Ah, Ms. Lewis, please inform Dr. Foster that if she threatens Tony again I’ll make sure she never has funding again.” Darcy’s voice was muffled while she got Jane to calm down. Darcy came back on the line after a brief silence.

“As I was saying, I need a favor: I would like Asgard’s scientists to review Dr. Cho’s and Tony’s research.”

_“You just want to get Stark off the hook for Sokovia.”_

“Ideally, yes, and since most of the researchers who’ve looked at what Tony and Dr. Banner did are drawing a blank as to how Ultron happened, I don’t think he should have been on the hook in the first place. Vision is right now walking around with the Mind Gem and I want to make sure it can’t generate another Ultron, which I believe is also in the best interest of Asgard. Didn’t Thor leave to research more about the Infinity Gems? This is their chance to get data from people who directly interacted with it and two of them weren’t brainwashed.”

_“What does Vision think of this?”_

“Vision has agreed to light scanning and is willing to answer questions, but has stated he can’t impart much knowledge of the Mind Gem and will view any attempt to take the gem as hostile,” Pepper heard a muffled discussion and then Dr. Foster came back on the line.

_“I can talk to him, but I can’t promise anything.”_

“That’s all I’m asking for. Please keep me up to date on your progress.”

~*~*~

_Transcript: Court testimony of Dr. Yann LeCun_  
October 6, 2015 11:05 CEST

BENSOUDA: You’ve had access to Dr. Stark’s servers and files for the four months before this came to trial, correct?

LeCUN: Yes.

BENSOUDA: In layman’s terms, can you brief the court on the security measures he took with the Ultron AI?

LeCUN: Ultron was isolated on a virtual machine. It had no access to a network outside of the lab. There were several firewalls around the Ultron AI while it was monitored by what appears to be a semi-autonomous security slash helper AI. 

BENSOUDA: Appears? Can you elaborate?

LeCUN: The Ultron AI went through the helper AI destroying its functionality. Dr. Stark would be the one to ask about how his helper worked.

BENSOUDA: Did Ultron destroying the helper AI damage the security logs?

LeCUN: The recording program was left intact, which stored the security logs in an on-site database, and was a background function that needed little input from the helper AI to continue. The AI had set up complex alerts so that it didn’t need to babysit that program. When we looked at the time logs, there were no skips, no breaks, no obviously manipulated data aside from a millisecond long system disruption when Ultron generated. Same when we reviewed the lab cameras.

BENSOUDA: Those were reviewed with INTERPOL investigators in the room, correct?

LeCUN: Correct.

BENSOUDA: As one of the leading AI researchers in the world, were you surprised that Dr. Stark had a working AI and never told anyone?

LeCUN: At first, yes. But then I thought of the direction his work had taken in the mid-‘90s and realized that was probably when he started on pure AI research. Before there had always been a robotics element. I am disappointed that he didn’t share his full findings with the research community, but he’s been careful with whom he shares his research ever since that very public incident in ‘89 with Baintronics.

~*~*~

_Fox & Friends_  
October 7, 2015 8:07am EDT; FOX

DOOCY: There’s only one reason to keep this a secret-

EARHARDT: -He’s selfish. INCREDIBLY selfish to keep this advancement to himself.

KILMEADE: Or he was scared. The great Tony Stark was scared that after his declaration of transparency in 2008 we would find out he was an elitist hypocrite just like the rest of them in Silicon Valley. He’s hoarding technology and doling it out to the public a little at a time just to keep us begging at his feet.

DOOCY: You’re both right. He was selfish. And scared. He was covering his behind by not letting the public know he had an AI that was a step away from going rogue and taking out anything that stood in its way. The only reason we know about his previous AI is because he finally made one that escaped him, and now he’s trying to weasel his way out of taking responsibility.

KILMEADE: Who knows what he was doing with his first AI, the prosecutors can ask all they want, it’s not like we can trust what he tells us. And you can just tell he has the “experts” eating out of his manicured hands.

EARHARDT: They’re practically falling over themselves to clear him of trying to take over the world. They all know him. Heck some of them have worked directly on projects with him. Shouldn’t that disqualify them from the proceedings? Why wasn’t James Marcus or Ted Calloway asked to look at his data? At the very least George Tarleton should have been involved. He’s a leader in his field and loudly outspoken about how much Stark keeps from the public. To give the public a fair and balanced trial, shouldn’t at least one of his critics be involved? Instead, they went to people Stark has bought their good graces over the years by contributing to their projects.

~*~*~

_Stark Industries Headquarters, New York City, New York_  
October 7, 2015 8:16am EDT

“Mrs. Arbogast, please call Jeffrey. It looks like Fox wants to be sued again.”

“Yes, Ms. Potts.”

~*~*~

_Video Clip: Dr. Katia Sycara comments outside the Hague_  
October 15, 2015; msnbc.com:

[msnbc Reporter: Any insight you can share about Ultron?]

“Let me tell you something that every person who’s ever taken a coding class or taught themselves coding knows: the code either fails when you first compile it or it fails way far down the line. One thing it doesn’t do is **wait** for you to leave your computer to have a catastrophic error.

“Add to that Ultron creating its own training data? That AI is impossible even with Stark Tech. Banner and Stark hadn’t queued up any training data, the helper AI wasn’t tasked to collect any, it was still doing a compatibility analysis. We have digital evidence, time logs and data usage, of Ultron breaching its containment, collecting data, and writing its own dictionary definitions and priorities from what it found. Training an algorithm, let alone a robust AI, takes months, if not years.” 

[Muffled question from CNN reporter]

“An example? Netflix. It was terrible at suggesting content the first year they began giving it data, 50/50 at best before they released it to consumers, but the more data they could use the better the suggested content, to the point they could commision tailor-made content like House of Cards and know it would be a hit with their customers.

“This AI focused almost exclusively on Stark when gathering information, and in a matter of hours made a logic error that ‘Peace in our time’ meant humans had to be eliminated. That we are so inherently violent as a species we can’t exist without war; so for war to end, we must be ended.

“If this was what Stark had wanted he has had the ability to destroy the world several times over since he was a teenager.”

~*~*~

_Transcript: Dr. Victoria Ruth Fitzpatrick, Psy.D_  
October 16, 2015 10:00 CEST

ANDERSON: You had the opportunity to interview Dr. Stark and review his lab security footage where he discussed his plans for Ultron with Dr. Banner. As an expert in your field, what is your assessment of Dr. Stark’s actions leading up to the creation of the Ultron AI?

FITZPATRICK: Rushed, but on the whole, rational.

ANDERSON: Can you elaborate?

FITZPATRICK: Dr. Stark had a fear event, prompted by a Hydra agent. He identified what he was afraid of happening: another alien invasion. He identified how likely that was to happen: New York and London show it to be not just likely, but has already happened twice. He identified what he could do to to prevent or mitigate his fear from happening: a global security force to act as a “bouncer” to any invading force. And then he began implementing it. The pressure of three days could have made him act upon the urge to rush, but that might have lessened if he had been allowed more distance from his fear event. The sudden creation of Ultron prevents us from knowing.

~*~*~

_Illuminating the Beyond message board_  
2015-10-19 04:23:59

xcoldplayer420x: Hansen said she wasn’t at human field trials until 2011, so why did I find 47 different human combustion reports in 2003, all on the same day?  
wd3145: One of her labs blew up?  
xcoldplayer420x: Nope, not unless she had labs on 3 continents and an island  
xxBabylon6: synchronized protests?  
xcoldplayer420x: at least 3 were hard core babptists, another 15 who were asleep, and correlation between them statistically negligible  
CloseEncountersIYKWIM: So are you thinking she’s a liar or it’s aliens?  
xcoldplayer420x: Of course it’s aliens, we’re just trying to figure out which ones. I can link you to a good site.  
CloseEncountersIYKWIM: …  
CloseEncountersIYKWIM: You’re serious, holy fuck  
-CloseEncountersIYKWIM has left at 04:35:16-

* * *

_Kamar-Taj_  
June 20, 2003 6:23am NPT

“But how do we tempt him here? To leave everything he knows just to struggle for years before he’ll even see the barest hint of a result is not the best signing bonus.”

“You came seeking answers, my student. If we can show him that the universities he and his girlfriend have shackled themselves to bind him to an existence too narrow to answer the questions he keeps chasing then we will have a powerful ally. We need to give him a reason to give up everything again.”

The Ancient One suddenly stopped and then sprinted for the door, Kaecilius directly behind them. They quickly reached the courtyard to find monks and students running away from the training yard. Buildings and equipment were strewn around a lone figure writhing on the ground in pain, fire starting to lick its way over her hands as she reached out towards them. The Ancient One’s eyes widened as she took in the purple flames eating away at the novice’s magic, which quivered in the failed mirror verse portal the teachers had tried to push her into.

Kaecilius grabbed the nearest monk, “Is there time to get her contained?”

The monk only had a moment to shake his head before they were raked by broken bits of transportation magic and the clinging fire of Death Magic.

* * *

_New Avengers Facility, New York_  
October 25, 2015; 8:30am EDT

After spending a couple of hours putting Redwing through his paces, Sam was headed back to his office when he heard raised voices coming from Steve’s.

“What were you thinking?! You are Not. Switzerland. and they Are. Not. Lichtenstein.” Sam’s eyebrows tried to meet his hairline; the last time he heard Stark yell like that was never. Moving towards his office, which was just past Steve’s, Sam couldn’t help but overhear their argument.

“Tony, we had a lead. If we had stopped to consult with Hill’s people the trail would have been cold.” Sam nodded to himself in agreement. The trail for Bucky was lukewarm by the time they got to his hideout instead of stone cold like it would have been the next day if they had waited for a go-ahead. The asshole’s dinner hadn’t had time to mold like it had the time before.

Sam was beginning to suspect Bucky didn’t want to be found.

“You know, Albania would have been easier to talk down if you’d had results. You didn’t.” Stark’s volume had gone back to normal, but his tone was still clipped.

“We did have results, just nothing pretty for your politicians to fawn over.” Steve was frustrated, both with the lack of Bucky and the pressure Stark was putting on him.

“What can I do to make this work? Is there something I can streamline?” Stark’s voice was strained.

“It’s my team, let me handle it.”

Stark sighed, “You know, sooner or later they’re going to vote it in.”

He could practically hear the way Steve stood straighter, “Not today. And with you on our side, not for a long time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted 29 April 2018


	6. With  Every Chance to Excel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The character HK comes from Nerve; I'm not adding it to the fandom tag since she's the only part coming over. Marvel doesn't have a character quite like her and I have something in mind.

**Six months after Avengers move out**  
_Midtown School of Science and Technology_  
November 2, 2015; 3:50pm EST

Peter walked out of his chemistry room and headed for his decathlon team practice, mentally reviewing what he planned to do afterwards. Last week he had patrolled Ozone Park- people were always looking to make a fast buck off of someone winning in the casino- this week he was going to roam around Kew Gardens Hill, maybe sneak into the Queens College, make sure nobody nefarious was messing with the library, specifically the books he needed for improving his webbing.

He had to remember to call Aunt May before six, make sure she was okay and see if she needed him to pick anything up before heading home. Last time he’d forgotten she’d given him a teary look, a long hug, and said his dinner was in the microwave. The further away they got from Uncle Ben’s funeral the more she’d relaxed, but Peter didn’t want to upset her more than he had to while being Spider-Man. 

Finally reaching the practice room, Peter shoved the door open. “Hey Parker, you made it!” Cindy waved him over to her side while Liz shot him a small smile.

“Flash, that’s not an appropriate use of the bell, put it down,” Mr. Harrington said as he walked towards the whiteboard. “Today we’re practicing on Chinese History: the end of the Qing Dynasty and the formation of the Republic of China. The team that wins gets these awesome erasers.” Peter wished he could coo over the Lisa Frank abominations like the girls were, but Flash was watching him too closely, so he settled for pulling out his notes and daydreaming about Flash stripping the gears of his dad’s sports car.

~*~*~

_Stark Industries Headquarters, New York City, New York_  
November 15, 2015; 10:24am EST

“Boss, I’ve got that list you wanted,” Friday shimmered into existence in front of Tony’s workbench, this week looking like Gilda Gray.

“Great, front and center,” Tony swiped away his project on neodymium substitutes as Friday brought up her analysis.

“Huh, any way to increase the certainty?”

“We’d need to invest in more CCTV in the area,” Friday pointed at the stink-face Tony made at that, “which I know you’d rather avoid linking SI with Orwell, and the cost of keeping them functional would draw several watchdog groups’ attention to your interest in the neighborhood.”

“Yeah, not the best way to recruit Daredevil. ‘Surprise! the news knows your identity because I was curious. Anyways, want to join my team?’ I’d be lucky to get out with just a broken nose.” Tony rubbed a hand over his face, “Keep an eye on the top ten likelies, alert me if you see blood.”

Friday crossed her arms, “Does that include Silva’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? It’s likely to get bloody while teaching class.”

Tony backtracked to the data on the most likely man to be Daredevil. David Silva was a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who ran his own dojo in the middle of Hell’s Kitchen. “Use your discretion, if it looks like his class got rough, just flag it for review or ask Rhodey’s opinion.”

~*~*~

_Staten Island, New York_  
May 23, 2006; 0327 EDT

“Common, common, there has to be something,” Azhar mumbled around her slim jim. “ _Hack Stark Industries_ they said, _get back at The Man_ they said, _it’ll be fun_ they said. Joke’s on me.”

Last week she’d boasted that not only could she hack Stark’s company, but that she could do it in 24 hours and “liberate” funds for her community center.

She got through the firewall quickly, which really should have been her first clue, and started poking through the servers looking for the best project to take funds from. The one that would scream ‘Screw you, you warmongering, child killing asshole’ the loudest when funds disappeared into a community betterment project. 

The problem was, she could tell she was being guided. It wasn’t obvious in the beginning, but the first thing she could access was data on Stark’s Inteli-Crops, the ones being tested in Mexico. The results looked promising but did fuck-all for her bet. Then the security measures practically bowed her through to the design phase of a green energy device that had a handwritten note scanned in saying “Fuck You Obie!” in the front file on funding. Which was zip. Zilch. A big fat zero. ‘No funding for you’ said the glowing red numbers.

Steal from the new clean water project headed for Jiangsu as typhoon relief or from the next bomb heading to the American Military Industrial Complex? The answer should have been easy, yet every time she tried to drill down to the bomb’s folder, new permission requirements popped up. 

Finally figuring out the correct combinations of permissions felt like passing a performance evaluation. The first file was empty. And the second. And the third. Azhar was about to scream when she got to the tenth one and there was a simple .txt file.

_Congratulations HackerKween_

_You have a meeting in 2 hours at 6am. A car will be waiting for you._

“What the fuck?!” She pushed back from her desk. “Tony Stark is going to murder me,” she muttered as she pulled out a backpack and started stuffing it with the necessities: phone, charger, tablet, extra batteries, credit cards, underwear. The basics she couldn’t live without while hiding from the biggest name in tech and weapons. “He is going to kill me and display my head as a warning to all future hackers.” She locked her door and proceeded to try to lose herself in the seedier side of Manhatten.

Two hours later found her ensconced in a Waffle House refining her search on getting out of the US and into a country that Stark couldn’t touch. There were depressingly few; her choices were Antarctica or Antarctica.

Some jerkoff was honking his horn and the people at the window where mutters about something going on outside. Glancing up, Azhar saw Happy Hogan, the famously unhappy bodyguard of Tony Stark, getting out of the limousine.

She quickly typed out a text to Tommy:

_!!! If you don’t hear from me ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ then T Stark has taken me on a cruise_

“Ms. HK, please come with me,” Hogan said when he reached her table.

~*~*~

November 16, 2015; CNN:

“And we go to Sally in the field. Sally, what’s the current situation?”

“Well, James, the Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Scarlet Witch were visiting the Royal Children’s Hospital here in Melbourne to promote awareness of childhood DMD when the event was attacked by Mole Man.”

Behind the correspondent, the hospital parking lot was torn up and one of the wings was sagging into the hole left by Mole Man’s souped-up mining drill. Brightly colored Iron Legion units were flying around picking up debris or propping up the side of the hospital while rescue workers evacuated the area.

“During the confrontation, Mole Man refused to surrender and the visiting Avengers were forced to use lethal measures.” The cameraman moved the view to show the local police congregating around a body tarp that was clearly trying to hide arrows. 

~*~*~

_Barton Family Farm, Waverly, Iowa_  
November 16, 2015; 6:10pm CST

“And that’s enough of that!” Laura turned off the TV.

Lila flipped around to glare at her mom, “Put that back on! I was watching that!”

“That type of content is not okay for little girls, we’ve been over this,” Laura stated as she resisted the urge to cross her arms, instead channeling her movements into straightening the blanket on the back of the couch. 

“Dad would let me watch it if he was here!” Pouting down at her lap, Lila wished her dad was home.

“No, he would agree that little girls need to do their homework before watching TV.”

~*~*~

November 27, 2015; TMZ:

“Have you ever seen anything like this? A dignified lady in ren faire getup staying stoic through a triple loop rollercoaster, but losing her mind over cotton candy.”

[One image of Prince Thor standing next to Lady Eir caught mid-motion talking to the cotton candy operator split-screened with Eir calmly riding Splash Mountain next to a beaming Thor appear next to Kelly Berning]

“Do we even know why an alien dignitary is visiting Earth?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted 08 Dec 2018
> 
> Did anyone else feel like Venom was essentially Tom Hardy performing a striptease for Feige in Iron Man panties, Hulk pasties, Wasp thigh-highs, and Winter Soldier jacket and boots? Just me?


	7. The Same Situations, Just Different Faces

**Six months after the Avengers move out**   
_Midtown School of Science and Technology_   
November 2, 2015; 3:50pm EST

Peter walked out of his chemistry room and headed for his decathlon team practice, mentally reviewing what he planned to do afterwards. Last week he had patrolled Ozone Park- people were always looking to make a fast buck off of someone winning in the casino- this week he was going to roam around Kew Gardens Hill, maybe sneak into the Queens College, make sure nobody nefarious was messing with the library, specifically the books he needed for improving his webbing.

He had to remember to call MJ after she finished for the day with _PFI: Public Forensic Investigation_ and ask her to pick up milk for Aunt May. Last time he’d forgotten, May’d given him a teary look, a long hug, and said his dinner was in the microwave. The further away they got from Uncle Ben’s funeral the more she’d relaxed, but Peter didn’t want to upset her more than he had to while being Spider-Man. 

Finally reaching the practice room, Peter shoved the door open. “Hi Mr. Parker, you made it just in time!” Emily waved at him from next to Tom.

“Josh, that’s not an appropriate use of the bell, put it down,” Peter said as he walked towards the whiteboard. “Today we’re practicing on Chinese History: the end of the Qing Dynasty and the formation of the Republic of China. The team that wins gets these awesome erasers.” Peter watched as Greg unsubtly stared at Lance, clearly waiting for the other boy to show too much interest in the colorful erasers Peter had picked up from Office Max.

Looked like it was time for Peter to take another crack at getting through to Greg.

~*~*~

_Resilent Tech Headquarters, New York City, New York_  
November 15, 2015; 10:24am EST

“I’d like to welcome everyone to the 40th meeting of the Evil League of Altruism.”

“Thanks, Jen, but I think we all know why we’re here,” Tony signed before shuffling his hologram. “Do you really need to announce it every meeting?”

“Of course, the readers are just joining us,” Jen brushed a lock of green hair behind her ear.

“... Right. Anyways, HK, how are we doing with access to Bihar’s water systems?” Tony turned to the other tech genius at the table.

HK poked a few points on her tablet before sending it the obligatory hologram display at the center of the table.

“We have access to their water treatment SCADA program for the major cities, but many of the outlying towns and villages are groundwater or straight from the river. We can start putting pressure on the American based corporations to go green and clean, and bribe the local authorities to increase the number of inspections on state-owned utilities.”

Hill leaned forward to look at the list of officials, “Anyone flagged for blackmail? I’d like to get that started as soon as possible.”

Captain Britain shook his head, “Really Maria, maybe they’re looking for a reason to do right by their citizens and we’ll only need the bribes.” Everyone paused before laughter broke out. “It could happen! That it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it can’t,” Brian defended his statement, struggling to keep a straight face.

~*~*~

_Queens, New York_  
November 2, 2015 5:15pm EST

“Hey Peter, over here!” Flash waved from the corner booth he’d managed to snag.

“Flash, thanks for meeting me man,” Peter pulled Flash into a one armed bro-hug before sitting across from him.

After Peter ordered a hamburger, fries, salad, pie a la mode, and a coke he turned back to Flash. “So I told you that I have this kid in my class who’s having behavioral problems.”

“Jeezus Parker, spit out the dictionary and say what you really mean,” Flash said before taking a swig of his beer.

Peter braced his arms against the table, “Greg’s acting like a little shit. He’s doing that thing kids do when they’re too far ahead or too far behind to pay attention to the lesson.”

“I’m guessing he’s falling behind since you’re not just giving him more advanced projects. And it’s a bigger problem than tutors will fix,” He tapped the table a few times with his index finger. “Bad vibes about the home life? The dad might not like his son having a learning disability?” Flash raised his eyes to meet Peter’s, “Picking on one of the smarter kids that’s pulling ahead?”

Peter nodded, “That’s a pretty decent summary.”

“Cool, I can spitball some ideas with you.”

The waitress pulled up in front of their booth. “I’ve got your orders right here, now which one of you had the double patty bacon cheeseburger?”

\---

“Hey, what’s that beeping?” Flash asked around his bite of apple pie.

“What? Oh shit!” Peter quickly pulled out his Avenger’s ID card and press the side button to receive the message.

“That’s... a lot of blood. Do you need to go?” Flash examined the security still being projected from the card.

Peter cast one last lingering look at his strawberry pie, “Yeah, looks like Daredevil needs help out of a dumpster again.”

~*~*~

November 16, 2015; CNN:

“And we go to Sally in the field. Sally, what’s the current situation?”

“Well, James, the Black Widow, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch were visiting the Royal Children’s Hospital here in Melbourne to promote awareness of childhood DMD when the event was attacked by Mole Man.”

Behind the correspondent, the hospital parking lot was torn up and one of the wings was sagging into the hole left by Mole Man’s souped-up mining drill. Brightly colored Iron Legion units were flying around picking up debris or propping up the side of the hospital while rescue workers evacuated the area.

“During the confrontation, Mole Man refused to surrender and the visiting Avengers were forced to use lethal measures.” The cameraman moved the view to show the local police congregating around a body tarp.

~*~*~

_Barton Family Farm, Waverly, Iowa_  
November 16, 2015; 6:10pm CST

“Nope, not for little girls!” Clint turned off the TV.

Lila flipped around to glare at her dad, “Put that back on! I was watching that!”

“That type of show’s not okay for you yet, we’ve been over this,” Clint stated as he resisted the urge to rub at his forehead, instead channeling his movements into twirling his tablet stylus around his fingers. 

“But I want to know what Aunt Nat is doing!” Pouting down at her lap, Lila wished her aunt visited more often. She always played the best games with Lila.

“You could try asking me instead of sneaking TV. Now, didn’t I hear you had math homework?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted 25Dec2018
> 
> For all of you brainstorming New Years Resolutions: [Have a funny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwlTqu0UY7c&pbjreload=10)


	8. What We Obey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has one of the ideas that got me writing a prequel instead of jumping straight into the main fic: what if Thor did try to intercede with any Ultron legal matters?

**Seven months after Avengers move out**  
Buzzfeed News  
December 3, 2015 3:15pm CEST

The Ultron trial took an unexpected turn today when the judge ordered the expert testimony stricken from the record and to be disregarded by the jury. We have many questions for the representatives of Asgard, but our liaison Florian cleared this list as okay to discuss:

  * Is Wanda Maximoff an Asgardian Cyborg?
  * How many references did Stark make to the Terminator franchise?
  * What _is_ Asgard tech?
  * But how _do_ Asgardians feel about roller coasters?
  * Is “Midgard” an Asgardian protectorate, and what does this mean for our future?



* * *

_Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands_  
December 3, 2015 9:00am CEST

“While we have the greatest esteem for Crown Prince Thor and Royal Scientist Eir and their desire to help one of Earth’s citizens, the court requires that we strike their testimony from the record as it unfairly biases the jury. It is flattering that a race of extremely advanced beings look and sound human, but we should not assume they have the same goals or morality as us.

“The court and its officials can understand what a law degree from Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas is, what effort it takes to earn one, what effort it takes to maintain a career as one. The court can only guess at what it means to earn and be the Head Scientist for Asgard’s Royal Court. That it sounds impressive only compounds the problem. That Lady Eir is vouched for by Crown Prince Thor is a point in her favor, but does not solve the problem of the court’s inability to verify what you’re an expert _of_.

“Humanity needs to chart its own course and not rely on outside assistance for moral judgment.”

* * *

_Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands_  
December 2, 2015

**04:40 p.m.**

Tony scratched at his chin, “Huh, so I should pop over to East Berlin and pick up one of those clear raincoats. She’ll look just like Pris!”

“Counselor, you **will** get your client under control or he will be held in contempt of court!” Judge Fernández pointed her gavel at Anderson.

**03:26 p.m.**

“If I’ve understood you correctly, Lady Eir, you’re stating that many on Asgard are seeking to replicate Ms. Maximoff’s abilities, that your department is actively creating _devices_ to mimic the tech that Prince Loki brought back from his exile,” Prosecutor Bensouda paraphrased for the jury.

Lady Eir nodded regally, “Yes, Midgard has a surprising number of Blessed I would like to talk to.”

“She means cyborgs!”

“Counselor! Control your client!”

**09:06 a.m.**

“Can you describe for the court, _without using the word ‘Quantum’_ , what your position entails?” Anderson tried for the fifth time to pin down what Lady Eir did for King Odin.

“No.”

“No, you refuse?” Anderson glanced at Fernández to gauge her patience for the current line of questions. The judge did not look pleased.

“No, I cannot. ‘Quantum’ is the closest translation I can find.” Lady Eir shook her head sadly at the shortcomings of Earth languages.

~*~*~

_Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands_  
December 1, 2015

**03:50 p.m.**

Thor sat straight in the witness box, “I gave Stark the right to study my brother's scepter, not to let it get away.”

This could be the tipping point Anderson needed, “So Dr. Stark only had permission to study the weapon as long as he didn't fail?”

“Yes.”

Anderson winced when she heard Tony’s sharp inhale before he spoke, “Talk about harsh peer review.”

“Dr. Stark, you will refrain from commenting.”

**01:15 p.m.**

After the lunch recess, Bensouda asked, “How would you rate yourself with Asgardian tech?”

Thor beamed at the lawyer, “Excellent! I am very adept at using tech from many fields of specialty.”

Nodding slowly, she continued, “And how would Lady Eir rate you at using Asgardian tech?”

“Just last week Lady Eir remarked she would be hard pressed to find another warrior with my level of skill!”

**11:33 a.m.**

“So you’re saying Earth is a protectorate of Asgard?” Bensouda clarified.

“While you may disagree with the analogy, Midgard is a child,” Thor paused to find the right words, “It needs to be nurtured and cared for before being released from the family home. You have so many enemies you're unprepared for.”

**08:25 a.m.**

“I am Thor Odinson, Crown Prince to the Royal Throne of Asgard, Royal Emissary escorting Lady Eir on her journey to Midgard,” Thor stated after being sworn in, the entire time wearing an indulgent smile.

“And Midgard is Earth, correct?” Bensouda asked as she approached the witness box.

Thor nodded, “It is a part of Midgard.”

“What is Midgard to Asgard?”

~*~*~

_Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands_  
November 30, 2015 8:20am

The doors to the courtroom banged open, “I, Thor Odinson, Crown Prince of Asgard, bring you glad tidings!”

“Your Honors, I couldn't get him to stop.” The court officer hurried in behind the Asgardian.

Ignoring the interruption, Thor boomed, “Your hero Iron Man is not responsible for the tragedy of Sokovia!”

* * *

**  
No Deus Ex Machina For Stark Says Judge**

**Stark Successfully Shifts Blame For Ultron**

**Colonel Claims To Have Been Abducted By Aliens**

**Thor Alien Prince Or SHIELD Experiment?**

**Wanda Maximoff Alien Cyborg**

~*~*~

_New Avengers Facility, New York_  
December 4, 2015 12:15pm EST

Steve set a hot mug of cocoa in front of Thor before sitting across from him at the kitchen table. “I don’t know what you expected to happen, but anyone could have told you that the ICC needed to play out this trial or they’ll have riots on their hands.”

Thor pensively stirred his drink, “I would have thought the esteemed court tasked with meting out justice would want to know all facts. What use is a court if it won’t acknowledge superior information?”

Shrugging since the court didn’t make much sense to him either, Steve asked, “So who else does Lady Eir want to talk to?”

“My Lady Jane,” Thor beamed with pride, “the Vision, and our friend Stark. She is very interested in comparing the different quantum code they exhibit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted 02Jan2019


End file.
